i know i can count on you
by irelands
Summary: "I could take care of her like I never did." One shot.


**Disclaimer**: I don't own anything. Everything is owned by NBC and Dan Harmon.  
><strong>Summary<strong>: Filled for this prompt here on LiveJournal. "I could take care of her like I never did." One shot.  
><strong>AN**: I haven't written in a really long time and this might suck so... you are warned haha. :) Also could be considered OOC a bit.

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><p>Jeff knows how to defend people and he does it well, what with being a lawyer and all. Or having <em>been<em> a lawyer rather. But defending with his words was as far as he'd go and he wouldn't help just anybody. It's not that he didn't want to, it's just that... well, he really didn't care much for people and their problems. Which is kind of ironic in a way but even he didn't care to look further into that.

For his friends, he wouldn't mind helping. His friends, crazy as they may be, were loyal to him and had his back through whatever, so he had theirs. But for Annie - she was a different story, regardless of how much he tried to deny it. Everybody in the group had picked up on his feelings for her, it wasn't even that hard to figure it out. So obvious. So plain to see. To everyone except oblivious Jeff and Annie.

Abed noticed it first. He figured it out by the way he would look over to Annie and keep his stare for just a second longer than usual and look away when she turned her head toward him. He figured it out by the way Jeff called her, "his Annie" and would smile when she smiled at him. His body language was always turned toward her somehow. Abed knew and he told Troy. At first, Troy was skeptical, but when his best friend told him to watch for the 'little things,' that was when he saw it too. Eventually, the whole group was in on it - counting out Jeff and Annie of course.

They were all sitting around 'their table' in the library, chatting about something non-related to academic courses, when Troy got a text message. "You guys," he said slowly, keeping his eyes on the phone's screen until he finally blurted out, "I just got invited to my first actual college keg party!" Jeff groaned, Britta and Annie looked at each other, Pierce rolled his eyes and Shirley said something along the lines of, 'oh no' while Troy and Abed did their ritual high five.

"You guys are all invited to go since it says here to bring anybody that's anybody..." Troy trailed off, reading aloud what it said on his phone. He looked over to Abed who only nodded his head at him. Shirley backed out because she said that nobody should even be going to a keg party. Pierce would but he apparently had some 'hot date' that he couldn't miss. Britta and Annie agreed to going. At this, Jeff quickly glanced over at Annie then said that he wouldn't be caught dead at any college party.

While everybody was leaving the library, Annie ran up to Jeff, catching him right before he went to his class. "Why won't you go, Jeff? It'll be really fun." She smiled up at him.

"How do you know it'll be fun? Besides, I've been to many parties before and they've all sucked. Nothing you can say could make me possibly consider even going," Jeff told her - leaving out the, 'you shouldn't be going either' part he said to himself.

Annie's smile left her face as she shrugged noncommittally and said, "okay then" before she left his side and continued on her way to class. Jeff narrowed his eyes, trying to figure out what her reaction was but he couldn't figure her out for the life of him. It was almost like she didn't even care what he did. When she usually did.

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><p>The party definitely lived up to Troy's expectations. There were so many people crowded into every square inch of some random person's apartment. Beer cans and bottles were everywhere he looked, chips were crunched under people's feet on the carpet beneath them and loud music was blasting from somewhere - he had no idea.<p>

Right now though, the three of them - Troy, Abed and Britta - were looking everywhere for Annie. Somehow she had managed to get lost in the crowd of people tonight. They all tried calling her cell phone but it went straight to voicemail and they figured that she had probably turned it off or the battery died. After almost half an hour of looking for her, Troy finally found her. She was just getting up on the bar next to the kitchen but doing a poor job of it, seeing as she could barely stand. From the looks of it, she was standing on the line of really, really tipsy and drunk.

Annie began dancing on the bar in front of everyone and everyone's attention was on her. Abed and Britta come up to Troy, both staring up at the scene before them. "I think we should call Jeff," Abed said to him as Troy was already pressing down on Jeff's name in his phone.

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><p><em>Don't think about what she's doing. Don't think about what she's doing. Don't even think about it.<em> Jeff sat on his couch in front of the television, paying no attention to what was on the screen but rather looking down at his phone, wondering what was going on at that keg party. Or rather, what Annie was up to. He didn't want to admit it, but she was on his mind the entire day. So when he saw his BlackBerry light up, showing Troy's name, his mind automatically went to 'Annie's in trouble'.

"What's up," Jeff answered, hearing the loud music in the background, trying to sound as nonchalant as he could. But really though, he was anxious to hear from him.

"Jeff, I think you should come over here right now," Troy said into his phone as loudly as he could over the music. "Annie's drunk and she's dancing on top of the bar in this dude's place and we can't get her to come down from there..." Jeff was about to say something but Troy continued. "Oh my god, she just took off her top!"

"Where are you guys?" Jeff asked him, getting up to grab his keys and walking out the door as Troy gave him the directions.

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><p>Jeff walked through the door and he'd instantly found the three of his friends standing nearby, walking over to them. "Hey, where is she?" he asked them. They all looked behind him and he turned around, finding her dancing with a bottle in her hand. "She's still drinking?" he asked them in an irritated tone. They all shrugged at him and he left.<p>

Annie didn't even notice him when he came up to the bar. Jeff was surprised as to how she was still on top of the bar seeing as she was wobbling around in her high heels. Must've been a pretty great skill, Jeff thought to himself before he called out her name. She looked down to see who called her name and gave him a bright, drunk smile. "Jeff! I thought you said you wouldn't come! Because it's too lame for The 'I've-been-to-so-many-lame-parties' Jeff Winger." Yup, she was out of it.

"Annie, get down from there, you're gonna hurt yourself," he told her, extending his hand up to her. She pushed his hand away and shook her head at him.

"No! Why do you even care? I like parties. And alcohol. I reeeeally like this drink," she said, slurring her words and taking a huge sip from her bottle of whatever. Then the next thing she knew, her bottle fell out of her hand and down to the floor, as Jeff grabbed her around the waist and threw her over his shoulder in a swift move. Jeff held her by her legs as he walked away from the bar and over to their friends.

"I'm gonna take her home," he told them. They all nodded and Britta handed over the tank top she had been wearing. Jeff grabbed it from her and walked out of there as quickly as possible. As he was walking out to his car, Annie hit him on his lower back. "Ow! Annie! What the hell!"

"I don't need you to be my shining armor knight... er, knight in shining whatever. Since you're the furthest thing from that anyway," Annie told him from behind his back. "I was having fun."

Jeff decided to wait until he made it to his car to say something back to her. He set her down on the ground slowly, making sure she wouldn't fall over. He unlocked the car and opened the door to the passenger side. "Annie, drinking alcohol, getting drunk and dancing on top of a bar and taking off your top," as he said this, he'd given her top back to her, "is NOT fun. And you should already know that." Annie pouted at him and sighed, all of a sudden feeling really nauseous.

Jeff watched as she ran over to the bushes and threw up everything she had in her. He quickly walked over to her and pushed her hair back, pulling it out of her face. She threw up a bit more and he just looked away from the mess she made, rubbing her back as an instinct. Once she got it all out of her system, she straightened up and looked down at the ground as she said miserably, "I'm sorry Jeff. I just wanted to be... someone other than me. I didn't want to be 'Annie the kid' anymore. I wanted to fit in, I guess."

"I don't want you to change yourself to fit in. Besides, I like you just the way you are, Annie." At this, she looked up and somehow managed to give him those damn 'Disney eyes'. "Everyone does," he added in quickly, going back to his 'safe zone' as he liked to call it. She sighed and looked back down at the ground. "Come on," he threw his arm around her bare shoulders and led her back to his car. He picked up the white tank top that she'd left by the car and dusted it off a bit before giving it back to her.

But instead of taking it, she threw up her arms and waited for him to put the tank top on her. He laughed lightly before he nodded his head and put the top over her head then pulled it down her body until the end met the top of the short, tight, black skirt she was wearing. After he'd put the tank top on her, he took a real good look at her. She looked beautiful, even with her hair and makeup all over the place. He didn't move away from her as his eyes finally met hers. She was almost up to his height, thanks to her really high heels, which looked amazing on her legs tonight. He just couldn't help himself. She was consuming his every single thought.

"Jeff..." she breathed out, bringing him back.

"Um, yeah, we should get you home."

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><p>When he finally got her to her apartment, which he still side eyed as he got there, he helped her to the door. He unlocked her apartment's door and gave her the key, leaning against the frame. "I think I got it from here," she told him. She had a slight headache but definitely wasn't as dizzy as she was before.<p>

He nodded at her and straightened up as she walked over the threshold. She began to close the door but he put his hand on the door before she could close it all the way. "Wait," he told her. He had to do this. He needed it out of his system. He pushed against the door until she was standing right in front of him again. Slowly, he placed his hand against her cheek and leaned in until he met her lips. She had no idea what to do, so she just stood there. It started out as a simple kiss until he began to move them gently, which then she responded to with more vigor.

At some point, he broke away, leaving her breathless. He looked at her for a good while before he said, "Goodnight Annie."

"Goodnight Jeff," she spoke softly, not knowing what this all meant. She was so tired, she just wanted to go to sleep. She saw him smile at her once more as she closed the door and locked it. Behind the door, Jeff walked away from the door and back out to his car. On his way back to his apartment, he kept thinking how wrong that kiss was. But at the same time, he couldn't care. Because he thought, _I could be the one who's always there for her. I could take care of her. Like I never did._


End file.
